Due to some miscommunications, it seems that Ubuntu will not
have a booth at LWE SF this year as the .org pavillion is
full. Sad as this is, I would like to thank all those who
emailed me and asked if they could help. See you all in 2008!

Need something to do on in early August? Want to come help
me run the Ubuntu booth at Linux
World Expo in San
Francisco? I am looking for volunteers a couple of
volunteers to help me out. This is a great opportunity to
meet some really amazing people and enjoy the high that is
working a conference (I have done more than a few myself).
The conference runs August 6-9 at the Moscon Centre.

A lot of people are followers. Companies, being run by
people, are no different. One of the most recent examples
of this behaviour is the spate of Linux companies
signing deals with Microsoft. With a few weeks we had
Xandros, LG and Linspire all signed deals. It looked like that
the growing tide of deals would overwhelm even the most
steady CEOs and make signing a deal with Microsoft just part
of running a Linux business.

That isn't going to happen.

Why? Within a few short days, Ubuntu,
Mandriva
and Red
Hat
have all said "No deal" (In Red Hat's case, this was a
reiteration of a previous
statement). The herd has changed direction. As
with any herd, there will be a few breakaways, as Novell did
last year when they signed their deal, but to all the other
Linux companies out there, signing a deal will not be "just
part of running a Linux business".

So, thank you Mark, Red Hat and Mandriva management. Your
courage makes the world a safer place for all Linux
companies and users.

I have previously shared my newest obsession and I
thought I
would showcase some of the amazing work
that all of us Canadians have done, as there are some
beautiful maps coming together across Canada.

Victoria, British Columbia

Calgary, Alberta

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Toronto, Ontario

Halifax, Nova Scotia

What is OpenStreetMap?

For those that don't know, OpenStreetMap aims to
create
CC-by-sa licensing maps of the entire world, creating the
first truly Free set of geographic data that covers the
entire world.

How do I get involved in OpenStreetMap?

You don't have to live in Canada to get involved,
although
you will earn brownie points if you do. If you are lucky and
live in a part of the world that has Yahoo
Imagery, then all you need is a web browser. For those
that don't, you will need a GPS. Regardless, the The
Beginner's Guide will get your started.

The wonderful people at O'Reilly and I have cooked up a
little scheme to get one of you lovely people a pass to Ubuntu
Live, for absolutely no cost. The catch? You have to write
me a story about why you want to go. And why would you want
to go?

This is always the question around this time. While nothing
has been set in stone, you can see the specs that are being
considered on the Launchpad
page for Gutsy.

I should note that this doesn't mean that everything on that
page is going to be done. Any specs marked deferred
mean that the
implementer couldn't get them done for Feature Freeze, in
this case August 16th, as can be seen on the Gutsy
Release Schedule. You can look at the equivalent Feisty,
Edgy
or Dapper
pages to get an idea of what these pages look like after
release.